Ataahua writes: Yesterday's edition of New Zealand's Sunday Star Times had a wonderful article about the silent half of the Jackson/Walsh team, Fran Walsh. It is a fascinating insight into someone of whom we have heard precious little. [More]

SGI's long-time customer Weta Digital evoked the power of more than 230 SGI® IRIX® OS-based and SGI LinuxTM OS-based visual workstations, storage products and servers for production, postproduction and visual effects on the much anticipated live-action, CGI-laden The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. [More]

12/23 - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring ruled them all at the weekend box office, drawing an estimated $45.3 million over the Friday-Sunday period and lifting its five-day total to $73.1 million. [More]

Wondering what the heck that message is that is at the end of the Fellowship of the Ring? Well Ataahua wrote in to reveal that it's not an elvish or sindarin tongue, but in fact a real language: Maori. [More]

Scorpio sends in this link to the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring page on Movie-Mistakes.com, where the mistakes are coming in thick and fast...seems like it's not the perfect film after all. Maybe Elijah can switch tears from one side of his face to the other naturally? [More]

A lot of fans are now eagerly awaiting the Fellowship of the Ring DVD after watching it on the big screen, drooling over the idea of nearly an extra hour of footage. The last word about the DVD was in the region of August/September of next year, and it's just been recently announced that Warner will distribute it in Europe. Here's a list of what the folks at IGN would like to see on it, complete with mock up cover. [More]

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring jumped from number three to the number one most searched for movie on IMDB this week. Similarly, Elijah Wood was the second most requested person this week, with Peter Jackson ninth, Liv Tyler tenth and Viggo Mortensen fourteenth.

Matt writes: Just an intersting note that LOTR has been rated M in Australia (looking at the TV ads this evening). This is a more stricted rating than the PG13 in the States, which may effect the overall box office in Australia. [More]

I'm on my third viewing of FotR and something has been growing on my mind. After seeing hundreds of pre-release images from stills, clips, and trailers, I was sure I'd seen some FotR shots from scenes that never made it to the final cut... Ringer Palleon -=XPd=- spotted a batch too and sent in this intriguing email: [More]

Rarely do we ever tell you about the technical side of things at TORn, but I want to take some time to give a big shout out to Corvar and Arathorn for maintaining TheOneRing.net's server through the busiest week in our 2.5 year history. However, our server is straining under the immense traffic generated by the release of the films. If you feel you can help out TORn in anyway this season, please do what you can. [More]

From the NPR Website: Scott talks to Sir Ian McKellan, the actor who stars as Gandalf in the new film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord of the Rings novels. McKellan is also starring in a Broadway production of August Strindberg's Dance of Death. (RealPlayer Needed) [More]

This just in...TheOneRing.net staff are drowning in thousands of Ringer Reviews. In some cases, we have not even got to reviews that were submitted on Wednesday! So if your review has not shown up online yet, please be patient. I'm almost afraid to say this...but if you haven't submitted a review yet, please do! [More]

LC writes: Here in Salt Lake we hosted the worlds largest TheOneRing.net party of them all and I wanted to send you not only a report but pictures as well. We bought out a 500 seat theater for the 12:01 a.m. screening on the first night of the event. [More]

I went to my fourth viewing of the film with my brother last night. I was very excited when I realized the tickets we had purchased were for the IMAX screen. Unfortunately, after viewing the film, I have come to the conclusion, wider is NOT better. Unlike the other three times I saw the film, I couldn't follow the action sequences at all. The viewing area was just WAY too big. So my suggestion to Ringer fans out there, avoid the IMAX LOTR:FOTR. Just my two cents.

rosie writes: I was just watching the Early Show, and they had their "holiday movies" segment, and Lisa Shwarzbaum, who wrote the "A" Entertainment Weekly LOTR review, definately praised LOTR out of all the movies they talked about. [More]

Soon after the release of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," New Line Cinema is contemplating a novel distribution scheme to lure those who enjoy the film back into seeing it at least one more time. [More]

After three years of waiting, 18 months of shooting, months of post production and several long agonising Decmeber days, the Fellowship of the Ring has finally arrived, and for the majority of those that have witnessed it, it is for them the finest movie they have ever seen. This weekend the Hall of Fire finally gets the long-awaited chance to discuss The Fellowship Of The Ring: The Motion Picture. [More]

TheOneRing.net is proud to announce a brand new contest! The Mystery Contest 2001! What is it? Well, basically...do nothing and win prizes. Fantasy Pewter has kindly donated a $700 Lord of the Rings Chess Set as first prize! [More]

"All we have to decide," the wizard Gandalf tells Frodo, the young Hobbit hero of "The Lord of the Rings," "is what to do with the time that is given to us." Easier said than done for them, since what's at stake is nothing less than the future of civilization. [More]

LOTR:FOTR has reached the top spot on IMDB's top 250 of all time. Our little movie has bumped 'The Godfather', 'The Shawshank Redemption', and 'Schindler's List' as well as a huge list of other amazing films down 1 spot. [More]

The midweek, day-and-date, virtually global opening of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings" is giving off "fantastic" vibes, New Line International president Camela Galano said late Wednesday afternoon after a busy day of monitoring early, incomplete results from countries worldwide. [More]

Dimitri writes: I just thought I'd recommend checking out the latest edition of Soundtrack Magazine -- there's an interview with Howard Shore and Peter Jackson on the LOTR: FOTR score. There are also two more Shore interviews featured in the latest FilmScoreMonthly as well as Music From The Movies.

Ataahua writes: Here's the lead story from today's edition of The Daily News in New Plymouth, New Zealand. I was one of the unfortunates who attended this screening! Other stuff-ups around the country included reels being wound on in the wrong order - this happened at one Auckland cinema, and viewers at a 12.01am screening found that the movie jumped from Bree to Moria, missing out Rivendell entirely. [More]

It's rare for a visual-effects facility to focus on only one project for years on end. But it's expected-one could say necessary-when that project involves bringing to the big screen author J.R.R. Tolkien's epic trilogy, "The Lord of the Rings." [More]

New Line Cinema has reported an estimated opening day gross of $18.2M for its fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings which bowed on Wednesday, December 19th, after months of hype. Playing in 3,359 theaters with over 5,700 total screens, the Peter Jackson-directed adventure generated the third-largest Wednesday opening in history after 1999's Star Wars Episode I ($28.5M from 2,970 theaters) and last summer's Jurassic Park 3 ($19M from 3,434). [More]

Now that The Fellowship of the Ring has been playing to audiences across the world for a couple of days, it is becoming apparent that the film is every bit as much a success as we always knew it would be! Check out the current numbers. [More]

A shadowy, evil overlord hides himself amid an unmapped mountain range. There he wields absolute power over fanatics and slaves, scheming for domination over the free peoples of the world. He sends forth assassins into peaceful lands and cities, spreading terror among civilians. [More]

The Fellowship of the Ring - part one of Peter Jackson's long-awaited $270m Lord of the Rings trilogy of films, has just received its world premiere in London's Leicester Square, but fans, critics and casual cinema-goers alike are stunned at the cheap tacky nature of the effects and the perfunctory storyline which collapses Tolkein's 300 page book into a mere 24 minutes of screen time. [More]

Hardcore fans slipped into their elfin outfits, bought advanced tickets in record number, and packed into theaters at midnight for the long-awaited opening of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings. [More]

J.R.R. Tolkien, the Oxford prof who changed the world of fantasy literature with his epic trilogy Lord of the Rings, died in 1973. But the beings he conjured decades before — from stately elves and grouchy dwarves to the hissing creature of corruption known as Gollum — continue to thrive in popular imaginations. [More] Thanks to Jen for the tip!

This is just a quick note to all the Ringer fans who have submitted their review to our Ringer Reviews section. We have received over 3000 reviews and they are all in the approval stages! This could take a few days. So be patient for your review to show up online. (Heh, and contrary to some nay-sayers, we are adding BOTH negative and positive reviews! The film just seems to be that darn good!)

New Line Cinema has reported an estimated opening day gross of $18.2M for its fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings which bowed on Wednesday, December 19th, after months of hype. Playing in 3,359 theaters with over 5,700 total screens, the Peter Jackson-directed adventure generated the third-largest Wednesday opening in history. [More]

Pippin Skywalker sent this in yesterday: On this day....December 19th four years ago Titanic wasreleased, going on to win 11 Academy Awards and earning one billion Worldwide at the box office. What a wonderful day for our beloved LOTR to be released!

From Varitey: The bell has rung and "Rings" has come out swinging. Actual box office data for first-day ticket sales to New Line's "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" won't be available until today, but by Wednesday afternoon it was clear that any concerns the distrib might have nursed about soft opening-day biz were for naught. [More]

Ibernia Lady of Lorien writes: New welcome over at the Official web site: now hear Peter Jackson greet Ring fans along with Liv, Orlando, Ian, Dominic, Billy and Christopher welcome you to the site. There is also a new Boromir Screensaver available.

You can catch me on washingtonpost.com's discussion forum today at 1pm eastern. I'll be talking about the movie and our line party success plus more. Submit your questions now and join me at 1pm eastern! [More]

Ian McKellen (Gandalf) was on CNN Morning News with Darren Kagen at around 11:50am. McKellen speaks about his character Gandalf and how getting 4 nominations for Golden Globes was a wonderful way to open the movie.

Nothing Real, a compositing software provider to the digital content creation market, announces that WETA Digital, a New Zealand-based visual effects facility, is using its Shake software as the primary film compositing system to handle the enormous visual effects requirements for New Line Cinema's and Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic The Lord of the Rings trilogy. [More]

Okay folks, if you are reading this post, I just have one question; "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!?!" Get thyself to a Movie Theater! (Check out Line Parties to get involved locally)

Also, as you can see, we have opened a brand new section: Ringer Reviews. We honestly could care less what the media thinks, we want to know what YOU think! Please be patient with us in getting your reviews online. Afterall, we are also at the movie today!!

Right now, with 300 FAN reviews added, Fellowship of the Ring is getting 4.6 rings out of a possible 5! Wow...can you say 'living up to expectations!'

The worldwide release of the Fellowship of the Ring is soon upon us! TheOneRing.net is proud to bring you the forum for which fans can voice their opinions and views on the Fellowship of the Ring: Ringer Reviews. A database of reviews from Tolkien fans all over the world, whether you loved, liked or hated the film this is where you can express your feelings in words and celebrate with your fellow fans the release of the first installment in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. [Submit Your Review Here]

As the world starts to wonder how Wellington special effects studio Weta brought JRR Tolkien's fantasy world Middle Earth to reality, studio founders Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger are wondering where the next job offer is coming from. [More]

Journalists don't usually like to utter the "j word" - known by everyone else as "junket". It sounds too much like reporters pretending to work, but really living it up at the expense of promoters. [More]

Rufus Redbeard writes: I have the pleasure of working just off Courtenay Place (where the Embassy, site of the premiere, is). The latest situation is that the Police have closed some of the roads leading into Courtenay Place so that the preparations can get underway. [More]

Carlos writes: Check out the site www.tutopia.com they say the soundtrack as already sold 1 million copies and gone platnum, the point they are making is that the movie isn't out yet and already the soundtrack is making huge sales. There's also a big praise for the film in today's mexican newspaper "El Economista".

When English don J.R.R. Tolkien wrote this ominous incantation decades ago for his epic trilogy, "The Lord of the Rings," he certainly never envisioned a zillion moviegoers spellbound in darkness. [More]

Everything you've read, seen or listened to in the last half-century has been influenced to some degree by Tolkien's 1,200-page novel. Oh, come on! Not "Star Trek" or "Star Wars." Not "The Godfather." Not Led Zeppelin. Not "War and Remembrance." Not "Dungeons and Dragons." Well, maybe. [More]

With less than 24 hours to go until the worldwide release of the Fellowship of the Ring, TheOneRing.net is proud to bring you the forum for which fans can voice their opinions and views on the Fellowship of the Ring: Ringer Reviews. A database of reviews from Tolkien fans all over the world, whether you loved, liked or hated the film this is where you can express your feelings in words and celebrate with your fellow fans the release of the first installment in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. [Submit Your Review Here]

Well, after the long wait, and all the emails from you guys, it is finally here, my Fellowship Of The Ring review! If you don't mind the 'History Of...' opening few paragraphs, check out The Review! !!!EXTREME SPOILERS!!! [More]

The new "Lord of the Rings" film that opens tomorrow is expected to take the movie-viewing world by storm, but what is not so well-known are the Christian convictions guiding the author of the classic tale. [More]

Citing the extremely strong tracking of New Line's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" and a complement of event pictures opening this week, Miramax Films has postponed the opening of its romantic comedy "Kate & Leopold," [More]

Regardless of the ultimate fate of "The Lord of the Rings," the fantasy trilogy whose first episode, "The Fellowship of the Ring," opens with great fanfare Wednesday, it is safe to say nearly everyone involved has been forever altered by the journey. [More]

In a recent press release, Riot Entertainment (RIOT-E) mentions bringing LOTR mobile services to four continents, North America *not* being one of them! We're working on getting more info for you, so stay tuned to the Havens for updates. [More]

Sauron—aka the Lord of the Rings—was a pretty buff dude. Ruled the world for a while, and remained in power in his home country for many centuries thereafter. He subverted the hearts and minds of many, and sent countless others to early and often unquiet graves. [More]

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first installment in the highly anticipated movie adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's famous fantasy trilogy, opens with sweeping shots of an epic landscape in transition. [More]

In the most complex project of his career, Howard Shore sets Middle-earth to music for "The Lord of the Rings." The musical career of Howard Shore keeps taking strange turns. Back in the late '60s, he played saxophone with a Canadian rock band. [More]

J.R.R. Tolkien and director Peter Jackson share fans' obsessions with `The Lord of the Rings'. Of all the fans of elves and ents, of all the folks fixated on hobbits, dwarves and orcs, there's one who stands out as the most fanatical, most absorbed, most obsessed fan of all. [More]

One of the biggest gambles in Hollywood history, the long-awaited "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" pays off with dividends - it's the three most exciting hours we've seen on a movie screen in years. [More]

In case you didn't notice...ONE DAY LEFT!!!!!!!! This is it. The wait is almost over. All those conversations with friends about who should play Gandalf; Who is the perfect Aragorn. All of those months, years, decades and lifetimes of anticipation. It has all come down to this. Fellowship of the Ring is coming in ONE DAY. I don't know about you, but I'm bouncing off walls here!

Local and international stars of the big and small screen, champion sportspeople, politicians and other celebrity guests will attend the Australasian premiere of the first instalment of Peter Jackson's eagerly awaited trilogy The Lord of the Rings in Wellington tomorrow. [More]

Overseas film critics are picking the first instalment of The Lord Of The Rings - The Fellowship Of The Ring - to be a monster hit with some suggesting it may propel its 40-year-old maker into the same league as blockbuster directors Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, James Cameron and Francis Ford Coppola. [More]

Andrew V writes: I was clean shaven, my shoes were shined, and I felt like a million bucks walking down the red carpet to the 'Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring' Premier in New York City at Ziegfeld Theater. [More]

Tom Shippey once knew and taught with J.R.R. Tolkien at Oxford. And Shippey, the Walter J. Ong Chair of Humanities at St. Louis University in Missouri, said he knows why Tolkien's work still has an audience today. [More]

Hirgil writes: On NPR's "Morning Edition" show, reporter Pat Dowell reports the film based on J.R.R Tolkien's book The Lord of the Rings has critics remarking that this story about the power to destroy evil is uncannily relevant to today's world. (RealPlayer Needed) [More]

Garfeimao writes: We drove to the Egyptian theater and got there with about 15 minutes to spare. We could see film crews and loads of people standing out in front of the theater as we drove into the parking lot. [More]

Zorina writes: New York Premier of Lord of the Rings was a marvelous experience and a huge success! A very well organized team of New Liner's worked diligently to help people make it through ticket and security checkpoint, pass representatives of every major media outlet and into the beautifully appointed Rhiga Royal Hotel. [More]

If you live in Los Angeles and you are a Tolkien fan, you can't miss the festivities tomorrow! Check out what TolkienOnline and TheOneRing.net are doing at Universal Studios Citywalk for the release of Fellowship of the Ring! [More]

Viggo Mortensen is looking every bit the bohemian, barefoot and sipping a special Argentine tea, as he talks about his role in The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of three Lord of the Rings films. [More]

J.R.R. Tolkien is almost as famous for his fans as for his work. In America in particular, the counterculture saw kindred spirits in his Hobbits during the 1960s and '70s, when ''Frodo Lives!'' and ''Gandalf for President!'' slogans started appearing on bumper stickers and college campuses. [More]

NEW YORK – Sir Ian McKellen is asking for silence. He has commanded the Broadhurst Theatre stage for the last 2 1/2 hours with a corrosive yet richly detailed portrayal in August Strindberg's "Dance of Death," and so the cheering matinee audience quite naturally does his bidding. [More]

"Lord of the Rings" fans face a decision. Should they buy the "Rings" jigsaw puzzles with scenes from the coming movie? Or the puzzle that springs from the J.R.R. Tolkien novels on which the movie is based? [More]

Classic modern epic carries a bit more weight than "Potter" or "Star Wars". When poet W.H. Auden reviewed "The Fellowship of the Ring" in 1954 he wrote, "what happened in the year of the Shire 1418 in the Third Age of Middle Earth is not only fascinating in A. D. 1954 but also a warning and an inspiration." [More]

Soathus writes: I live in Wellington and just came back from the exhibit featuring props, outfits, swords, helmets, shields and the set miniature of Orthanc at the St. James Theatre in Wellington. [More]

NEW YORK CITY -- The Lord of the Rings'' has for 45 years been to the film world what Everest is to climbers: the ultimate prize and the supreme challenge. With an enormous readership -- John Ronald Reuel Tolkien's books have sold an estimated 100 million copies -- the mystical adventure holds a weighty place in the popular imagination. [More]